The book contains articles written at different times (starting from the 80s), dedicated to one topic - French medieval literature in all its multi-genre manifestations, and its connection with the culture of other countries and eras - ancient, Old English, Celtic and even Old Russian.  Particular attention is paid to the problem of the development and transformation of traditional plots and motifs at the moment of their penetration into a foreign language environment or into the context of new cultural values. The book is the third volume of selected works by A. D. Mikhailov (see “From Francois Villon to Marcel Proust.” T . I and T. II. M.: Languages of Slavic cultures, 2009, 2010). It was fully prepared by him for printing by the beginning of September 2009, but further work with the publishing house was interrupted by the sudden death of the author.  In the archives of A.D. Mikhailov, a manuscript of an unfinished book about the problem of fantasy in the Middle Ages, which he had been working on in recent years, was found. - its first section was also included in this edition (“The Fantastic Universe of Breton JH”).